85 45 50 13 Return to folly, but surcease 9. Surely, to such as do him fear, And glory shall ere long appear To dwell within our land. 10. Mercy and Truth, that long were miss'd, Now joyfully are met; Sweet Peace and Righteousness And hand in hand are set. have kiss'd, 11. Truth from the earth, like to a flower, And Justice, from her heavenly bower, 12. The Lord will also then bestow Whatever thing is good; Our land shall forth in plenty throw 13. Before him Righteousness shall go, Then will he come, and not be slow; PSALM LXXXVI. 1. Thy gracious ear, O Lord, incline; 2. Preserve my soul; for I have trod 3. Pity me, Lord, for daily thee I call; 4. O, make rejoice Thy servant's soul; for, Lord, to thee I lift my soul and voice: 5. For thou art good; thou, Lord, art prone To pardon; thou to all Art full of mercy, thou alone To them that on thee call. 6. Unto my supplication, Lord, Give ear, and to the cry incessant prayers afford Of my Thy hearing graciously. 7. I, in the day of my distress, For thou wilt grant me free access, 8. Like thee among the gods is none, Of all that other gods have done, 9. The nations all whom thou hast made To bow them low before thee, Lord, 10. For great thou art, and wonders great Remainest God alone. 11. Teach me, O Lord, thy way most right; I in thy truth will bide; To fear thy name my heart unite; So shall it never slide. 12. Thee will I praise, O Lord my God, Thee honour and adore With my whole heart, and blaze abroad 13. For great thy mercy is toward me, 14. O God, the proud against me rise, To seek my life, and in their eyes No fear of thee have set. 15. But thou, Lord, art the God most mild, Readiest thy grace to shew, Slow to be angry, and art styled Most merciful, most true. 16. O, turn to me thy face at length, Unto thy servant give thy strength, 17. Some sign of good to me afford, And let my foes then see, And be ashamed; because thou, Lord, PSALM LXXXVII. 1. AMONG the holy mountains high There seated is his sanctuary; 2. Sion's fair gates the Lord loves more Of Jacob's land, though there be store, 3. City of God, most glorious things 4. I mention Egypt, where proud kings I mention Babel to my friends, And Tyre, with Ethiop's utmost ends: 5. But twice that praise shall in our ear This and this man was born in her; High God shall fix her fast. 6. The Lord shall write it in a scroll 7. Both they who sing, and they who dance, In thee fresh brooks and soft streams glance, PSALM LXXXVIII. 1. LORD GOD, that dost me save and keep, And all night long before thee weep, 2. Into thy presence let my prayer, And to my cries, that ceaseless are, 3. For, cloy'd with woes and trouble store, My life, at Death's uncheerful door, 4. Reckon'd I am with them that pass I am a man; but weak, alas! And for that name unfit. 5. From life discharged, and parted quite Among the dead to sleep; And like the slain in bloody fight, That in the grave lie deep. Whom thou rememberest no more, Them, from thy hand deliver'd o'er, Where thickest darkness hovers round, 7. Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, 8. Thou dost my friends from me estrange, Me to them odious, for they change, 9. Through sorrow and affliction great, 10. Wilt thou do wonders on the dead? And praise thee from their loathsome bed 11. Shall they thy loving-kindness tell, 12. In darkness can thy mighty hand Thy justice in the gloomy land Of dark oblivion? 13. But I to thee, O Lord, do Ere yet my life be spent; cry, And up to thee my prayer doth hie, 14. Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake, 15. That am already bruised, and shake Bruised, and afflicted, and so low While I thy terrours undergo, 16. Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow; 17. All day they round about me go; 18. Lover and friend thou hast removed, Thy fly me now whom I have loved, A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV.e This and the following Psalm were done by the author at fifteen years old. WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son, After long toil their liberty had won; This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest performances. The first he afterwards translated into Greek.-T. Warton. And past from Pharian fields to Canaan land, "Foil" is defeat: a substantive used in the same sense by Harrington in his "Orlando Furioso," and by Shakspeare repeatedly.―TODD. |